Use of a gene for increasing the oil content in plants

Abstract

The invention relates to methods for increasing the oil content in plants, preferably in plant seeds, by expressing a polypeptide from yeast. The invention furthermore relates to expression constructs for expressing the yeast polypeptide in plants, preferably in plant seeds, the transgenic plants expressing the yeast polypeptide and to the use of said transgenic plants for the production of food, feeds, seed, pharmaceuticals or fine chemicals, in particular for the production of oils.

1. A method of increasing the total oil content in a plant or a tissue, organ, part, cell or propagation material thereof, comprising
 a) transgenically expressing in a plant or a tissue, organ, part, cell or propagation material thereof a polypeptide, wherein the polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2; 
 
       and
 b) selecting a transgenic plant, or a tissue, organ, part, cell or propagation material thereof in which the total oil content in the plant, tissue, organ, part, cell or propagation material thereof is increased as compared to the wild type. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the polypeptide is the polypeptide as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plant is an oil crop. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the total oil content in a seed of the transgenic plant is increased. 
     
     
       5. A transgenic expression cassette comprising a nucleic acid sequence under the control of a promoter which is functional in a plant or a tissue, organ, part or cell thereof, wherein the nucleic acid sequence is selected from the group consisting of
 a) a nucleic acid sequence comprising the nucleic acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1; and 
 b) a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid level-to sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2; and wherein expression of the nucleic acid sequence results in increased total oil content in the plant or the tissue, organ, part, cell or propagation material thereof. 
 
     
     
       6. The transgenic expression cassette of  claim 5 , wherein the nucleic acid sequence is the nucleic acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1. 
     
     
       7. The transgenic expression cassette of  claim 5 , wherein the nucleic acid sequence is a nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2. 
     
     
       8. The tranagenic expression cassette of  claim 5 , wherein the promoter is a seed-specific promoter. 
     
     
       9. A transgenic vector comprising the expression cassette of  claim 5 . 
     
     
       10. A transgenic plant or tissue, organ, part, cell or propagation material thereof, comprising the expression cassette of  claim 5 . 
     
     
       11. The transgenic plant of  claim 10 , wherein the plant is selected from the group consisting of  Borvago officinalis, Brassica campestris, Brassica napus, Brassica rapa, Cannabis sativa, Cart hamus tinctorius, Cocos nucWera, Crainbe abyssinica, Cuphea  species,  Elaeis guinensis, Elaeis oleifera, Glycine max, Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium barbadense, Gossypium herbaceum, Helianthus annuus, Linum usitatissimum, Oenothera biennis, Olea europaea, Oryza sativa, Ricinus communis, Sesamum indicum, Triticum  species,  Zea mays , walnut, and almond. 
     
     
       12. A method for the production of oils, fats or free fatty acids comprising extracting oils, fats or free fatty acids from a transgenic plant or tissue, organ, part, cell or propagation material thereof, wherein the transgenic plant or tissue, organ, part, cell or propagation material thereof is transformed with a transgenic expression cassette comprising a nucleic acid sequence under the control of a promoter which is fractional in the plant or the tissue, organ, part or cell thereof, wherein the nucleic acid sequence is selected from the group consisting of
 a) a nucleic acid sequence comprising the nucleic acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1; and 
 b) a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2; 
 
       and wherein expression of the nucleic acid sequence results in increased total oil content in the plant or the tissue, organ, part, cell or propagation material thereof as compared to a wild type. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the nucleic acid sequence is the nucleic acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the nucleic acid sequence is a nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2. 
     
     
       15. A seed which is true breeding for an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2 wherein expression of the polypeptide results in increased total oil content in the seed as compared to a wild type seed. 
     
     
       16. The seed of  claim 15 , wherein the polypeptide is the polypeptide as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2. 
     
     
       17. A method of producing a transgenic plant having increased total oil content as compared to a wild type variety of the plant, comprising the steps of:
 a) transforming a plant cell with an expression cassette comprising a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of
 i) a nucleic acid sequence comprising the nucleic acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1; and 
 ii) a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2; 
 
 b) generating transgenic plants from the plant cell; 
 c) screening the trausgenic plants for increased total oil content; and 
 d) selecting transgenic plants that demonstrate increased total oil content as compared to the wild type. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , wherein the nucleic acid sequence is the nucleic acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 17 , wherein the nucleic acid sequence is a nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2.